“iPhone sales will be one of the headlines next week when Apple reports its earnings for the fourth and final quarter of fiscal 2015,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune.
“The consensus among Fortune‘s panel of Apple analysts — a mix of professionals and seasoned amateurs — is that iPhone sales probably grew another 24% in the September quarter,” P.E.D. reports. “Where the pros and the amateurs part company is in the quarter that ends Dec. 26. That’s when Apple faces what analysts have been calling the ‘tough compare.'”
“Christmas last year wasn’t just a big quarter for Apple. It was the most profitable quarter ever recorded by any public company,” P.E.D. reports. “And if Apple fails to match or improve on it, the short sellers will try to sweep the table.”
Read more,and see all of the analysts’ iPhone unit sales esitmates for Apple’s Q415, in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: So, if Apple in the holiday quarter only posts the 2nd most profitable quarter ever recorded by any public company, that’s a “bad thing” (according to AAPL shorts, anti-Apple fudsters, and other sundry ne’er-do-wells).
One thing to consider is 2015’s releases: Last Christmas quarter, neither an Apple TV with an App Store, Apple Music, or Apple Watch were available for purchase.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
More than Microsoft and Samsung and HTC and Google and Lg did put together. What more do you need to know?
I’m looking forward to this quarterly report AND future guidance. My modest take is that short sellers will be squeezed. We will see.
Amazon and Google share price both up 11% after hours. Big winners as expected. Microsoft up 5% after hours is still a winner.
Watch Apple lay a rotten egg upon earnings. That’s the way it’s destined to be. Apple threw away $140 billion on buying back stock and it will all go for naught. Apple seems to be a wealthy company that doesn’t know how to put value into the stock while some companies make it look so easy with far less money spent. Apple is like the N.Y. Yankees spending big money on “talent” that allows them to just fall short of post-season play. I suppose we can chalk it up to fate.
Figures. Bezos, Eric T, Gates, and Mundie (MS) have been regular attendees of Bilderberg.
52-53M in Q4.
AAPL dropped immediately after its record quarter announce on 12/26/2014 and each quarter since, which was a record over previous year to year quarters. What does it really matter if they hit or miss their guidance or the experts’ magic wish numbers. They set the record for any quarter in history and their stock price dropped below the announcement date over the next month!
If you want to sell any Apple stock before it plunges again on announced great earnings and sales any other company would die for, now’s the time.
Apple’s dividends are nice to have but do not, in themselves, justify owning the stock. Growth is what has powered Apple to the high stock prices we were seeing earlier in the year.
A drop in iPhone sales in the December quarter will suggest that future growth will be increasingly hard to come by, and investors will look elsewhere.